National News

Bought Cigarettes in NY? You May Have Funded Terror

(NEWSER) – Police have uncovered a cigarette-smuggling operation whose proceeds may have gone to terrorist groups, they say. Sixteen Palestinians were indicted yesterday (and all but one arrested) in the East Coast effort, which saw some 1 million cartons of cigarettes trucked into the state from Virginia, where they were sold to distributors throughout NYC and Upstate, reports the Daily News. (Reuters reports the cigarettes ended up in grocery stores.) What it meant for the smugglers: at least $10 million in profit, per prosecutors. What it meant for the state: a lost $80 million in tax revenue, CNN reports.